A Prospective Study; Diagnostic Role of Shear-wave Elastography To Differentiate Benign and Non-benign Thyroid Nodules Categorized to According to the ACR 2017 TI-RADS

ÖZ Objective: The differentiation between benign and non-benign thyroid nodules is a complex problem to solve in clinical practice. We aimed to observe and describe the role of shear-wave elastography (SWE) to distinct benign and non-benign thyroid nodules before a fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). Methods: Ninety-seven patients were prospectively included in the study from March 2019 to January 2020. Patients with a history of thyroid infections, surgery or trauma of thyroid tissue, autoimmune diseases associated with thyroid gland, non-diagnostic histopathology (Bethesda I) were excluded from the study. Thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) based on the 2017 American College of Radiology (ACR) was used for the radiological classification of nodules. Patients’ age, number of thyroid nodules, SWE value of nodules, and TI-RADS categories were compared to pathological classification. Results: The mean age of patients was 49.80±11.42 years. Benign thyroid nodules were classified as “Group 1” (G1) (n=79) and non-benign thyroid